LEV302 See [[EXOD520]] Exodus 21:1 them LEHRMAN 237-8

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LEV320 Our ethical teachings have been able to produce the ideal man because they interwove religion and morality and insisted that man owes duties to his Creator, as well as to his fellow-man. A symbol of this union between Belief and Action is the fact that the Ten Commandments, almost equally divided between these twin duties of man, are depicted in our synagogues as engraved on one tablet and in equal perpendicular columns. Judaism does not countenance any distinction between these two fields of man's responsibility, laying greater stress on man's duties towards his fellows, lest they be given second place. To emphasize this, Rabbi Hanina b. Dosa, one of the saintliest of men, declared: "He in whom the spirit of his fellow creatures takes delight, in him the Spirit of the All-Present takes delight." (Avot iii. 13). The order of this statement is significant. The duties man owes to his fellows take precedence; but only when these are harmoniously combined with his duties towards God, will man reach perfection and qualify for "a portion in the World to Come". (See [this and surrounding verses] for an ethical presentation of faith, followed by the statement "I am the Lord".)

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LEV328 True charity bestows as well as receives; "more than the householder does for the needy, the needy does for the householder". (Leviticus R. xxiv. 8). The Talmud quotes the parable of the two lambs passing through a stream, one shorn of its wool the other not. The shorn one found it easier to cross (Gittin 7a). Is not the possession of wealth rather precarious -- with us today, with another tomorrow? "A wheel rotates in this world" (Shabbat 151b explaining the words kee biglal hadavar hazeh in Deut. 15:10), causing some to be on top one day and at the bottom another. The giving of charity is constantly stressed because of this truth. That any Jew should be indifferent to the woe of another is inconceivable [this verse; Deut 14:29; Isa. lviii. 6ff; Job xxxi.13]. No duty is more important, and none ushers in salvation more speedily (B.B. 9a; Sukk. 49b; Ket. 67b).

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LEV335 See [[EXOD851]] Exodus 23:7 falsehood LEHRMAN 265

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LEV371 It was in the Greek way of life, not in ours, that a profound distinction was made between citizen and stranger. The Torah warns us to have one law for all. It is Demosthenes who bears testimony that a stranger was denied the rights of citizenship and that he had no right to protection by the local deities nor any share in the sacrifices offered to them. Since the stranger had no part in the religion of the Greeks, he had no claims to the benefits of their legislation. If he entered a sacred enclosure which the priest had set aside for the assembly, he was punished with death. In brief, the laws of the city did not exist for him. When found guilty of a crime and not enjoying legal protection, one can imagine the trial he had. He was treated as a slave and punished forthwith. These harsh rules were not a result, as in the case of Judaism, of defensive measures against persons disintegrating and corroding the empire of the Greeks, but of a cruel and barbaric strain in the "make up" of the Greeks and Romans. By way of contrast, examine the Jewish attitude towards the ger. From the Bible, it would appear that two types of such strangers are referred to: one was the ger toshav, the member of another nation who came to live in Palestine. The other was the ger tsedek, the member of another religion who sought acceptance "under the wings of the Shechinah" in his wish to embrace Judaism. The first type was the one who accepted the seven Noahidean precepts and had foresworn his idols and had become a sincere believer in monotheism. As a reward of his trust, he was entitled to civic and legally quality; he was not to be oppressed; interest was not to be charged him for any loan, nor could his wages be kept overnight [this verse]. He was to be given every opportunity for his economic welfare. This partial proselyte, who was admitted only when Israel dwelt in its own land, was respected as an honest seeker after truth. Apart from certain ritual disabilities, not having accepted Judaism in its entirety, he enjoyed equal rights in Jewish courts of law.

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LEV390 … the Sifra (88d) has this comment on [this verse]: Lest you plead: "I meant well, giving him only friendly advice", the divine warning is that since you advance your motives as a defence, God knows what is in your hearts. This is the reason why the phrase "I am the Lord your God" acts as a refrain almost to every command in this chapter of Holiness.

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LEV391 [Continued from [[DEUT182]] Deut. v. 18 covet LERHMAN 316-17] The many laws (especially in Leviticus xix) "not to hate our brother in our heart"; "not to curse the deaf"; "not to place stumbling-blocks before the blind"; not to take a mean advantage of the ignorance of another, end with the stern reminder "I am the Lord thy God". The deaf and the blind may be unaware of our malicious intention, but He who knows all, will in due course exact severe punishment for such double-dealing. A medieval teacher summed up this stress on sincerity of intention and action succinctly when he explained the verse: "And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him (Moses) in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush" (Exodus iii. 2). The two Hebrew words for "in a flame of fire" are Belabbat aish, implying that God wishes us to perform all our duties as His witnesses sincerely and eagerly, with a heart (lev) aflame for righteousness. To illustrate this thought, take the conspicuous part allotted to charitable acts. It has been explained that the reason why the middle one of the three Matzot at the Seder table is broken in two (Yahatz), is to indicate that our aim as Jews should be to halve another's sorrows by practical sympathy and by sharing with him the blessings that a good fortune has brought our way.

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LEV437 Humility will occasion a sense of justice in all things. It will teach a man to be scrupulously honest in all he does and not to take any unfair advantage of the ignorance or trust of another. It will instill in him the determination to loathe any usurious transaction and abhor exploitation in business and all other kinds of fraudulent dealing. Few vices come more under the lash than the abuse of the confidence placed in us by a trusting fellow-man [this verse, Leviticus xxv. 14; Deut. xvi. 19; xxv. 16; Isa. xxxii. 7; Jer. xxii. 15; Zech. vii. 9-10; Hab. ii. 6-11; Prov. xxi. 21; xiv. 34; xxviii. 8; Job xxxi. 7; Ps. xv; Talmud: Sanhed. 25a; Kidd. 56b; Hull. 94a). To be impartial is only the passive side of justice and is not enough. Justice has an active side also; this is to right wrong and to vindicate the cause of the oppressed. Isaiah is fond of describing the justice of God side-by-side with His Holiness (xxvi.9)

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LEV465 The ideal man, says the Psalmist (xv. 3. Called the "Gentleman's Psalm") is one who "hath no slander upon his tongue", lest he causeth thereby a shedding of blood." Nor is the actual doing or speaking of evil needed to constitute a wrong. Often a look or a smile is enough. A sudden silence is, at times, more eloquent than speech; as if one should say "I could a tale unfold, if I so wished". Such insinuation is called by the Rabbis "the fine dust of evil speaking" (abak leshon hara). God hates him who says one thing with his mouth, while he thinks another in his heart (Pes. 113b). The Talmud attaches much importance to honesty in all things, especially in commerce and industry. Jerusalem was destroyed when honest men ceased to be therein (Shabb. 119b).

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LEV550 Before commanding a Jew to rebuke his neighbor for sinning, the Torah says [this verse] that one must not hate one's fellow Jew in one's heart. Therefore, one should not be admonished out of hate, only out of love. If there is any element of hate in the rebuke, it should not be given at all.... According to the Baal HaTanya (Tanya, chap. 32) one should hate the sin in the people, but love all the other parts of the person. In other words, one should hate the sin but love the sinner. There is another reason why the "tactic" of hate is less applicable, if at all, today. At the time of the Talmud and of Maimonides, all Jews lived together in a small community. Even the less observant had no "options" to leave and assimilate. Therefore, the tactic of hating created a very strong pressure to repent and return to the mores and religious values of the overwhelming majority of the community. Today, however, this "tactic" of hating cannot be as effective, since the object of this hatred can merely move away to another Jewish community or, more often, abandon the Jewish community altogether. Therefore, the goal of hatred is almost never successful today. The Mishnah (Avot 1:12) itself implies that the "tactic" of love, not hate, is the means to return a sinner to the proper path, by suggesting that Jews should follow the tradition of Aaron the High Priest, who used the tactics of peace and love to return people to Torah.

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